Helena Fairfax

Today sees the release of my romantic suspense novella, The Scottish Diamond – hooray! Earlier this week I wrote about the setting in Edinburgh, along with some photos of that lovely city. Edinburgh can be a beautiful place in the sunshine, but I think even the Scots would agree that in the mist and rain it can be gloomy, steeped as it is in a sometimes bloody history.

One of the themes of The Scottish Diamond deals with the superstition surrounding Macbeth, otherwise known as “the Scottish play”. The heroine, Lizzie, is an actress, and Macbeth is the play she’s rehearsing with her theatre group. Right from the start, Lizzie feels the play is bringing bad luck. She tells the hero, Léon:

‘It’s full of wickedness, all right. It’s well known the play is cursed. For us actors, it’s a nightmare. We have to remember not to say the name “Macbeth” in rehearsals, because if we do, something terrible is bound to happen. We have to call it “the Scottish play,” instead. And if any of the actors forget, they have to go outside the rehearsal room, turn round three times, and knock on the door to be let back in.’

Later in the story, one of the actors does say the name “Macbeth” backstage by mistake – and bad luck surely follows…

As I was writing this story, I grew more and more curious to know why actors are so superstitious about this play. Here are some of the things I’ve discovered.

Some actors believe the spells in the play are actual spells used by witches in Shakespeare’s day. There’s a legend that a coven of witches were so enraged by this, they cursed the play for all time. If you’ve ever been to see Macbeth, you’ll know the witches can be terrifying when they first appear out of the mist, and the words they speak are chilling. It’s easy to see how this superstition grew up.

And it’s true that bad luck dogged Macbeth from the first. Shakespeare wrote the play especially for King James, who was Scottish and a

believer in witchcraft – but the King hated the play so much he banned it, and it wasn’t performed again for five years. There are many accidents associated with the performance of the play. Stories go that in the very first production, a prop dagger was replaced with a real one, and an actor died.  In 1947, the English actor Harold Norman – who didn’t believe in the superstition – was accidentally stabbed during the performance and later died of his wound. There have been lethal riots, fires, broken limbs, and when Laurence Olivier himself played the part of Macbeth, he was almost killed when a heavy weight dropped to the stage, narrowly missing him.

Of course there are more prosaic reasons why the play attracts such bad luck. There are more fight scenes in Macbeth than any other Shakespeare play, and – since it’s now over 400 years old – it’s inevitable that there will be a number of accidents and tragedies associated with it.

My hero, Léon, certainly doesn’t believe in the superstition. Léon‘s mother was Italian, and he uses a phrase that sums up his philosophy on superstition exactly:

‘Do you know how we say “break a leg” in Italian?’ I shook my head, and he told me, ‘In bocca al lupo. It means “In the mouth of the wolf.” And if ever someone wishes you good luck in this way, you must never say “thank you,” because that is guaranteed to bring you bad luck. You must answer only crepi il lupo. It means “to hell with the wolf.”’

“To hell with the wolf” – I love that expression! It’s perfect for Léon, because he’s seldom afraid of anything…except for Lizzie’s safety – which becomes clear as the story progresses :)

The saying “In the mouth of the wolf” comes from the fact that female wolves carry their young in their mouths to protect them. The person saying it is wishing someone safe-keeping. It’s a lovely expression.

It was great fun finding out more about these superstitions as background research for The Scottish Diamond.

Here is the blurb:

“Fair is foul, and foul is fair…” What do you do when nothing is what it seems…even the man you love?
When Lizzie Smith starts rehearsing Macbeth with her theatre group in Edinburgh, she’s convinced the witches’ spells are the cause of a run of terrible luck. Lizzie’s bodyguard boyfriend, Léon, is mysteriously turned down for every job he applies for, until he’s finally offered the job of guarding “The Scottish Diamond,” a fabulous jewel from the country of Montverrier.
But the diamond’s previous guard has disappeared in mysterious circumstances. The Scottish Diamond has a history of intrigue and bloody murder, and Lizzie is plagued by nightmares in which Macbeth’s witches are warning her of danger.
Then Lizzie discovers she’s being followed through the streets of Edinburgh, and it seems her worst fears are about to be realised…

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The Scottish Diamond is available now on Amazon and will be available from other ebook retailers soon. Hooray again!

And if you’d like a FREE copy of Palace of Deception – the novella in which Léon and Lizzie first meet – I’m offering a copy to all new subscribers to my newsletter. Click here to download and I hope you enjoy!

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I hope you enjoyed my post about the superstitions surrounding Macbeth.  Do you have any particular superstitions yourself, or any superstitious sayings you use? If you have any comments at all, I’d love to hear from you!